This invention relates to an improved angulation head for removable attachment to a dental implant of a type having a hollow interiorly threaded neck to which the angulation head is adapted to be removably attached, and an implant portion adapted to be implanted in the jaw of a human or other animal, and to a bending tool for bending the angulation head so that a portion of the angulation head will extend in a desired angular direction with respect to the implant portion to which it is to be attached.
With the development in dental implant technology of submerged functional implants as disclosed in my prior patent applications Ser. Nos. 925,764, 819,119, and 559,226, referred to above, the use of removable heads for dental implants has become important. The implant portion of the submerged functional implant is implanted in the jaw and the tissue covering the jaw is sutured over the implant for sufficient time to permit the bone to heal and intermesh with the implant portion. After the implant portion has been implanted for sufficient time, the skin covering the neck of the implant portion is slit and pulled away sufficiently so that a separate head can be attached to the implant portion.
Sometimes it may be necessary or desirable to change the angularity of the head relative to the implant portion. Once the implant portion has become set in the jaw, it is not desirable to move it, thus it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved bendable angulation head for a dental implant.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an angulation head which comprises an intermediate cap or flange portion, an integral stem depending from the cap, and an upstanding bendable head portion integrally attached to the cap opposite the stem. In one embodiment of the invention, the stem is threaded throughout its length. In another embodiment of the invention, the stem is threaded only at its tip end and is unthreaded for a portion of its length intermediate the cap and the threaded tip portion.
The cap of the angulation head may be cylindrical with a flat underside or it may have an inverted conical undersurface which tapers to the unthreaded portion of the stem. The head portion of the angulation head may be cylindrical in cross section and adapted to be bent in any direction of a full circle, or it may be rectangular in cross section having a pair of broad flat parallel opposite sides and a pair of narrow opposite sides which taper toward a flat top, the latter head portion being bendable only laterally relative to the broad sides thereof.
It is another object of the invention to provide a bending hand tool for use in bending the improved angulation head of this invention. The bending tool comprising an elongated holder for supporting the angulation head by its stem and a hand manipulatable elongated bending shaft for engaging the bendable head portion of the angulation head.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a bending hand tool in which the elongated holder comprises an elongated handle having a flat end normal to the axis of the handle on which the cap portion of the angulation head rests, and an axial socket for receiving the stem of the angulation head, the socket having interior threads for engaging the exterior threads of the stem of the angulation head. In a preferred embodiment of the invention the socket of the holder is threaded for only a portion of its length adjacent the bottom or inner end thereof and is provided with a coaxial counterbore adjacent its outer end which is of greater diameter than the diameter of the stem of the angulation head.
It is still a further object of this invention to provide an elongated bending shaft which has an axially extending socket which is closed at its inner end and which is open at its outer end to snugly receive the bendable head portion of the angulation head. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the socket of the bending shaft is formed with a central cylindrical socket to receive a cylindrical angulation head and with a rectangular slot to receive an angulation head of rectangular cross section.